Problem overview:
Awareness and vision: Nepal has written a vision for sustainable development in the Constitution that the protection of the environment is considered a priority and damage to it from development will be prevented.
Framework for coordination: Nepal has 3 institutions looking over environment, namely; Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the National Development Council (NDC), and the Environment Protection Council. The Prime Minister will lead these 3 bodies and ensure that there is efficient coordination among them.
Background in summary:
The three major development and environment bodies: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal (1990) promotes the need for sustainable development; therefore, the government has set up additional governmental bodies to look over environmental aspects.
- Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Protection: This committee oversees the actions of the government related to conservation of the countrys natural resources and environmental protection.
- National Development Council (NDC): NDC is the highest policy level body. Its mandate includes guidance to major policy issues and preparation of development plans.
- The Environment Protection Council: has prime responsibility for environmental issues. Its function is to provide guidance regarding the formulation of policies, preparation of working procedures and implementation of policies. The Prime Minister is the chair and the Minister for Population and Environment serves as Vice-Chair. The Secretary for the Ministry for Population and Environment is the secretary of the EPC.
All chaired by the Prime Minister: The Prime Ministers leadership of the three major development and environment bodies assures effective coordination and helps to mainstream environmental issues into policy formulation and the decision making process.
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Good practice rating:
(1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score) |
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Sustainability
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Efficiency
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| 2 |
 Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other. |
- |
Cost efficient. |
| 2 |
Sustainable over time (not one-off) |
Process |
| Adaptability |
2 |
Participation of the community |
| 3 |
Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?) |
2 |
Participation of resource owners/users |
| 3 |
Socio-cultural adaptability. |
2 |
Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private) |
| 3 |
Level of development adaptability. |
1 |
Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments. |
| 2 |
Style of government adaptability. |
- |
Ability to attract political interest/support |
| 2 |
Degree of decentralization adaptability. |
- |
Procedures for feedback and review. |
Comments on this example:
Setting up a National Planning Commission can provide a good basis for formulating national policies for overall national and sectoral sustainable development, preparing periodic plans and approving annual programmes. Involvement of leaders makes the process important.
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Sustainability of the project:
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Awareness and visions: Like many other countries, the Government of Nepal is aware that when there are 2 separate bodies, one looking over environmental conservation and the other looking over economic development, conflict of interest would arise because in order to achieve ones goal, say increase economic capacity, it would be a the cost of the other, which is environmental degradation, and vice versa. That is why setting up another governmental body looking over both aspects in one, which is Sustainable Development will help ease out the problem.
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Adaptability of the project to other situations:
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| Process of decision making and implementation: |
Framework for coordination: The creation of committees has not being very effective in environmental conservation. Things may go out of hand as there are too many such committees, which have overlapping functions. Co-ordinating the activities of these committees is important for their effectiveness. The Prime Minister seems to be involved in all committees, which shows the highest level commitment. But the practicality of such actions must also be considered.
Hopefully, the solution to have the Prime Minister chairing all 3 committees and act as the main coordinator will efficiently reduce the conflict of interest and duplication of work. However, there are three major points that should be considered with this solution:
- A great deal depends on the moral standard set by the Prime Minister since one committee does not oppose the other. The system gains strength only if the Prime Minister is dedicated to the success of the programme.
- Chairing these three bodies, the Prime Minister and related Ministers may find the same subject recurring several times and conflicts of time and other issues may prevent the Prime Minister from doing justice to all three bodies.
- People in all three bodies might not feel free to express their feelings or concepts in the presence of a powerful leader.
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Documentation: |
Literature or other written project review references
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Source of Information: |
ESCAP, 1999, Integrating Environmental Considerations into the Economic Decision-Making Process, selected reading, Volume I: Institutional arrangement and mechanisms at national level in Nepal
Website http://www.unescap.org/drpad/pub3/integra/volume1/nepal/1np000ct.htm
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Contacts: |
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Submitted by: |
Mr. Bharat Bahadur Pradhan
Director
Institute for Sustainable Development
Kathmandu
Nepal (Fax: 977-1-418455)
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